The South China Sea in May is calm. On the blue sea, Ship Yuanruiyang, the world's first LNG dual-fuel super large crude oil tanker, successfully completed its maiden voyage. With full confidence and solemn vows, she began her new voyage at 0012 Beijing time on May 18. The two bright LNG tanks and the "COSCOSHIPPING" logo on the deck were particularly dazzling in the sunlight. With a sweet whistle across the sky, Ship Yuanruiyang, like a plough, drew a beautiful arc on the sparkling sea...
Since it was put into operation in Dalian on March 3 this year and finished unloading in Vietnam on May 18 this year, the successful completion of the first voyage of Ship Yuanruiyang has added a beautiful stroke to the application of COSCO Shipping Group in the green, environmental protection and energy-saving technology of large oil tankers, and also marks the great success of COSCO SHIPPING Energy in promoting the application of LNG as the main fuel on super large crude oil tankers, writing a new chapter for China to explore green, low emission and sustainable marine energy transportation.
Marking the New Development Coordinates
Stars connect to the sea, high sails are towering, waves tie the ends of the earth and the link is long. Ship Yuanruiyang is the concrete practice of COSCO Shipping Group’s implementing the spirit of General Secretary Jinping Xi's speech "the shipping industry should comply with the new trend of green, low-carbon and intelligent development" under the background of global energy transformation, promoting "accelerating the formation of green and low-carbon transportation modes, and promoting new energy and intelligent transportation equipment", which plays a positive demonstration and leading role in energy conservation and emission reduction of large ships.
A Solid Start
The start must be excellent, and the completion must be perfect. As the world's first LNG dual-fuel VLCC, Ship Yuanruiyang has successfully operated for the first time in China and even the world. In order to ensure the success of the maiden voyage, the Energy company has paid close attention to the management system, risk control, technical specifications, practical operation, crew training and service guarantee of dual fuel ships from the aspects of improving the system, strengthening the mechanism and building a matched talent team.
In terms of the improvement of the management system of dual-fuel ships, in view of the fact that the fuel used by the company's existing ships is marine fuel oil, the company organized members of the technical team and the supervision team, and invited experts with rich experience in LNG ship management to form a system preparation team. Under the premise of tight time and no experience to follow, the preparation work was completed in a short time, providing detailed guidance for the LNG filling of ships and the management, use and filling process of equipment, It laid a foundation for the subsequent ship and shore personnel to effectively implement the system documents, safety management and operate the ship.
In terms of crew training, the company started from the long-term development of crew training, and on the premise of meeting the standards of crew preparation, three to five sets of personnel were fully equipped to ensure the needs of shift change. They coordinated with many parties to overcome the difficulties in finding T11 and T12 certificate training institutions for seafarers, the limited resources for certificate elimination, the impact of the epidemic and many other aspects, and successively arranged two batches, 62 people for the training of such certificates. The company has also arranged 15 trainings on main engine, generator, boiler, remote control of main engine, LNG filling and gas supply system, and 46 cadre and crew members have obtained relevant training certificates. In order to enable the ship shore personnel to systematically master the company's dual-fuel ship system documents, the company organized the preparation of system training materials, and carried out LNG system documents and operation process training for 86 crew members and shore based management personnel.
Before the maiden voyage, in order to implement the management concept of the whole life cycle of the ship, the company paid attention to the support and guarantee of the organization system, rules definition and resource system from three aspects: the planned maintenance of the ship's electromechanical equipment and important systems, and the planned maintenance of the hull structure and ballast tank coating. They organized maintenance management personnel and ship management personnel to participate in technical exchanges for many times, and gradually formed the best management mode for shore-based management of ships and actual post management of ships. They have successively overcome more than 100 technical difficulties, such as the insulation treatment of high and low pressure buffer tanks and the optimization of liquid supply pipeline support, and made every effort to ensure that Ship Yuanruiyang filled LNG at the Malaysian anchorage when the fuel tank temperature fell to -120 ℃, which has been repeatedly praised by the representatives of the Charterers. The above measures have provided strong support for the success of Ship Yuanruiyang's maiden voyage.
Enthusiasm to Move Forward Under Greater and Greater Pressure
Stars don't bother passers-by, and time pays off those who have a heart. From the moment they set foot on Ship Yuanruiyang, the crew members who took over the ship participated in the battle to ensure the safe operation of the world's first LNG dual-fuel VLCC with a high degree of ideological consciousness and action consciousness. The ship carried out centralized training in the form of classroom teaching, discussion teaching, field practice, competition assessment and other forms. The crew members spontaneously formed interest groups and technical teams to carry out self-study, discussion and exchange, became familiar with and mastered the new ship type management system, equipment working principle, operation guide and safe operation skills in the shortest time, continued to accumulate experience through innovative practice, management improvement and project research, and strove to continue to strive for the successful completion of the first voyage.
Pursuing first-class innovative character: As the world's first LNG dual fuel VLCC, Ship Yuanruiyang insists on pursuing first-class innovative character, educates and guides the crew to innovate and compete based on the characteristics of the new ship type, and carries out post breakthrough in technical operations such as functional inspection of new ship type equipment, dual fuel conversion, LNG cold state, pre-cooling gas injection, fuel tank pressure monitoring, etc., especially organizing the crew to devote their energy to tackling the new subject of dual fuel injection. According to the requirements of the charterer, Ship Yuanruiyang would fill LNG at the anchorage in Malaysia for the first time. Because the ship was in a warm and inert state when sailing, it needed to carry out inert gas replacement and pre-cooling operations in the pipeline and fuel tank after arriving in Malaysia. The filling operation could be carried out only when the temperature of the fuel tank dropped to -120 ℃. Faced with the lack of pre-cooling equipment such as gasification skid, the short replacement and pre-cooling time, and the limited operation authority of the crew of the parameters modified by the service provider, the ship team did not flinch at all. With the cooperation and help of the company's ship-shore technical team, the key equipment was tested and rehearsed after many times of research and optimization. Finally, the scheme of small flow spray pre-cooling of spray pipe on the top of LNG tank was determined. During the pre-cooling replacement filling, the management of bog was very important to the whole process. The company specially dispatched and guided the ship to the filling anchorage, tested and confirmed the combustion function of the boiler mixed combustion mode for many times, and the ship conducted a simulated fault drill for the pipelines, filling stations, gas domes and gas supply rooms that were prone to problems, so that the engineers participating in the filling could clearly understand all steps of pre-cooling replacement filling, and improved the response control ability in emergency situations. With the joint efforts of the ship team and the shore team, the first safe refueling was successful, which accumulated valuable experience for the production and operation of the new green ship, and laid a solid foundation for COSCO SHIPPING Energy to practice the "carbon peak and carbon neutralization" goal of shipping, which was recognized by all parties.
Training first-class business skills: Difficult tasks require more skills. If you want to be convincing, you have to show real skills. The ship has always trained first-class business skills around the "strict style and exquisite ability". Through fixed position, daily practice, targeted training and stage assessment, the ship has trained a strong crew team to ensure "ice breaking" in business, as well as writing a high standard of cabin digging with action. At 8:00 a.m. on March 8, the first crucial battle after sailing was launched on Ship Yuanruiyang. In order to ensure the construction period and safety and quality, the ship organized three unloading operation teams. According to the prior plan, the first mate and the second engineer were respectively responsible for checking the integrity of hydraulic pipelines, cargo oil pipelines, tank washing machines and other equipment, and timely rectify and adjust any problems found; The water digging group was responsible for removing the accumulated water and lifting it bucket by bucket with ropes to the outer deck of the 30 meter high cabin; The cabin cleaning group was responsible for removing rust, garbage and other debris. The crew overcame the scorching sun, the high temperature on the deck, and the poor and stuffy air in the cargo oil tank. The crew drilled up and down in the tank, alternating up and down, and constantly crossed the bulkhead and ribs in the tank with "longitudinal and horizontal gullies". It was very hard to work. But in order to save time, everyone went down to the tank to work for a whole morning or an afternoon. Although they consumed a lot of physical energy, no one complained about being tired or exhausted, showing the first-class business literacy and excellent business ability of Energy people.
Promoting first-class service standards: Customers come first. Attentive service is the unchanging purpose of Energy people. The ship insists on promoting the first-class service standard around the "service can only get better, there’s no best", taking strengthening business and improving quality as the basis of serving customers, through the activity of "carrying forward the spirit of craftsman, practice of post training and improving service quality", regularly organizing crew business training, emergency drills, drills, emergency disposal, etc., further unifying ideas, strengthening safety bottom line thinking, enhancing active service awareness, improving service quality, and creating hard power for cargo handling. During loading and unloading, the captain always took the lead and set an example. In addition to completing a large number of documents and ship-shore information communication, he took the initiative to watch the cargo control room with the driver; During the first loading at Kuwait port, the first mate was almost working without pause during berthing and disembarking, and seldom slept a whole night, but he was still energetic; The deck was short of manpower, and the comrades in the engine room volunteered to take on the duty of anchor chain watch. The chief engineer used the parking state of the loading and unloading main engine to lead the engineers to inspect the equipment to ensure that all kinds of equipment on the ship are in the best condition. The orderly work of ship loading, unloading, berthing and disembarkation was praised by the port authorities of Kuwait at the loading port and Vietnam at the unloading port.
Creating first-class loyal quality: From receiving the ship to sailing, the Party branch of Ship Yuanruiyang has never forgotten the earnest instructions of leaders at all levels to open, manage and operate the world's first LNG dual-fuel super large crude oil ship. In the work of ship safety production and operation, it highlighted the party building to lead the new heights, gave full play to the fighting fortress of the branch and the vanguard and exemplary role of Party members, used the party's flag to encourage everyone to strive for first-class loyalty, insistd on climbing high and looking far, and became the inheritor of the party's red gene, guiding everyone to hold up their dreams with loyalty. In view of the fact that the majority of crew members are working on a dual-fuel ship for the first time, the ship insisted on being meticulous and strict, made a list of the central work and key tasks at all stages and links, assigned responsibilities to each person, formulated corresponding plans and measures, and focused on the implementation. At the same time, a commando team and an emergency response team composed of Party members and League members were also established to carry out carrier activities such as "Party member pioneer post", "Party member responsibility area" and "one promise for one thing" in combination with stage tasks, so as to win the hearts of people and gather strength. The backbone of Party members always charged the front line in their work, and led all crew members to complete more than 10 key tasks such as cargo tank inspection and testing, preparing for oil company inspection , adding fuel in Singapore, filling gas in Malaysia, and loading and unloading operations.
Sharp swords come from sharpening, the fragrance of plum blossoms comes from the cold weather; Pay will be rewarded, and hard work will usher in harvest. From the successful completion of LNG filling for the first time, to the safe crossing of the Indian Ocean through the Singapore Malaysia strait for the first time, and the loading of cargo from the Middle East to Southeast Asia for the first time, the company's ship team and shore team worked together to explore and move forward in more than 60 days. From the difficulties at the beginning to the easy solution of each problem, it was tense, busy, and even more open up and inheritance. I believe that in the new journey, Ship Yuanruiyang will create more firsts and draw a more beautiful track in the energy transportation industry!
